SELEUKID KINGDOM Demetrios III Eukairos 97BC Ancient Greek Coin Nike i47229

Item: i47229

 Authentic Ancient

Greek Coin of

Seleukid Kingdom

Bronze 20mm (5.72 grams) Struck circa 97-87 B.C.

Reference: HGC 9, 1309; SC 2454
Radiate, bearded, and diademed head of Demetrios III right.
ΒAΣIΛΕΩΣ ΔΗΜΗΤΡΙΟΥ ΘΕΟY ΦΙΛΟΠΑΤΟΡΟΣ ΣΩTΗΡOΣ,
Nike advancing right, holding wreath and palm; Seleukid date in exergue;
monogram to left and in exergue.

 You are bidding on the exact item pictured,

Authenticity.

In
Greek mythology
,
Nike

was a goddess
who personified
victory
, also known as the Winged Goddess of
Victory. The Roman equivalent was
Victoria
. Depending upon the time of various
myths, she was described as the daughter of
Pallas
(Titan) and

Styx (Water) and the sister of
Kratos
(Strength),
Bia
(Force), and
Zelus
(Zeal). Nike and her siblings were close
companions of Zeus
, the dominant deity of the
Greek pantheon
. According to classical (later)
myth, Styx brought them to Zeus when

the
god was assembling allies for the
Titan War
against the older deities. Nike
assumed the role of the divine
charioteer
, a role in which she often is
portrayed in Classical Greek art. Nike flew around battlefields rewarding the
victors with glory and fame.

Nike is seen with wings in most statues and paintings. Most other winged
deities in the Greek pantheon had shed their wings by Classical times. Nike is
the goddess of strength, speed, and victory. Nike was a very close acquaintance
of Athena
, and is thought to have stood in
Athena’s outstretched hand in the statue of Athena located in the Parthenon.
Nike is one of the most commonly portrayed figures on Greek coins.

Names stemming from Nike include amongst others:
Nicholas
, Nicola, Nick, Nikolai, Nils, Klaas,
Nicole, Ike, Niki, Nikita, Nika, Niketas, and Nico.

Demetrius III (d. 88 BC), called Eucaerus (“well-timed”

possibly a misunderstanding of the derogative name Akairos, “the untimely

one”) and Philopator, was a ruler of the

Seleucid kingdom

, the son of

Antiochus VIII Grypus

.

By the assistance of

Ptolemy IX Lathyros

, king of Egypt, he recovered part of his father’s

Syrian
dominions

ca 95 BC, and held his court at

Damascus
,

from where he tried to enlarge his dominions. To the south he defeated the

Maccabean

king

Alexander Jannaeus

in battle, but the hostility of the

Jewish population

forced him to withdraw. While attempting to dethrone his brother,

Philip I Philadelphus

, he was defeated by the

Arabs

and Parthians

, and taken prisoner. He was kept in confinement in Parthia by

Mithridates II

until his death in 88.

Seleucid Empire Σελεύκεια Seleúkeia

312 BC–63 BC ↓

The Seleucid Empire in 301 BC.

The Seleucid Empire
  was a
Hellenistic
state ruled by the Seleucid dynasty
founded by
Seleucus I Nicator
following the division of
the empire created by
Alexander the Great
. Seleucus received
Babylonia
and, from there, expanded his
dominions to include much of Alexander’s
near eastern
territories. At the height of its
power, it included central
Anatolia
, the
Levant
,
Mesopotamia
,
Kuwait
,
Persia
,
Afghanistan
,
Turkmenistan
, and northwest parts of
India
.

The Seleucid Empire was a major center of
Hellenistic
culture that maintained the
preeminence of
Greek
customs where a Greek-Macedonian
political elite dominated, mostly in the urban areas. The Greek population of
the cities who formed the dominant elite were reinforced by emigration from
Greece
. Seleucid expansion into
Anatolia
and Greece was abruptly halted after
decisive defeats
at the hands of the
Roman army
. Their attempts to defeat their old
enemy
Ptolemaic Egypt
were frustrated by Roman
demands. Much of the eastern part of the empire was conquered by the
Parthians
under
Mithridates I of Parthia
in the mid-2nd century
BC, yet the Seleucid kings continued to rule a
rump state
from
Syria
until the invasion by
Armenian
king
Tigranes the Great
and their ultimate overthrow
by the Roman
general
Pompey
.